MARTYRS MEMORIAL

 

The jury, who came together at Ankara Officers’ Club on 15th March 1944 to analyse the projects included in the competition of the Ministry of National Defence; 15 of 37 projects were evaluated by the jury. Two projects were chosen as the best. The Project with 6th Record and 10109 sign number was considered as the most valuable and was informed to the Ministry of National Defence. The nation started to build the today’s Martyrs Memorial in 1938 which was the Project of Architect Feridun Kip, İsmail Utkular and Doğan Enginbaş. It was projected in 1944 and tendered on 12th April 1954. It was tendered for 1.648.234 Liras. The Memorial was laid the base with ceremony on 19th April 1954. In a control on 14th January 1955, it was realized that the Memorial was not built in terms of the contract and the building process stopped. As a result of the estimate and analysis carried out by various committees, the corruption of contractor was realized and the contract was terminated.

The construction, which was tendered for the second time, was tendered for 1.708.918 Liras on 10th September 1957. According to the contract, the Memorial would be completed in July, 1958. However, the construction of Memorial was left half-finished on 15th January 1958 due to the financial problems because the staff salaries consumed an important amount of the available money during the hang back of the construction. After that, 2.386.251 liras were collected; 1.686.251 Liras from the public and administrations, 600.000 Liras from the Grand National Assembly, 100.000 Liras from the İstanbul Municipality as a result of a campaign of newspaper and radio for 45 days.

So, the construction was started again on 15th March 1958. Finally, only the body part of the Memorial was constructed with this money. It was inaugurated on 21st August 1960. The wharf and dock, a forest with 500.000 trees around the Memorial, lightening facilities, Namazgah Mosque, entrance path and a museum for the memories of Çanakkale War were not constructed as they needed a few more millions Liras. Namazgah Mosque and its other facilities were finally completed in 1992. New constructions have continued since 2000.

In total, the height of the Memorial which was built on four columns is 41.70 meters and the space among the columns is 10 meters. The length of each column is 7.5 meters. So, each surface of it is: 10 x 7.5 x 7.5 x 25 meters. The top of the Memorial which was built on a square-each edge is 25 meters – is coned slightly and the side of the Memorial goes down 24.5 meters.

To sum up, the Artefact is a perfect and architectural Memorial. 250.000 architectural parts were used for 250.000 martyrs. Its appearance reflects today. When you look at it as the nearest and from the Anatolian Side, you get really affected and proud. Probably, it has no similar structure in any country in the world. So, it is a sample and masterpiece Memorial.

Our Memorial, which was built on the hill of Hisarlık in the commemoration of 253.000 Turkish soldiers, was constructed over four columns and it means that our nation is well-founded and indestructible. When you look at it from the far, it is seen as M of Mehmetçik (Turkish Soldier). Also, there is a museum beneath the Memorial. Çanakkale Martyrs Memorial was constructed with the donation of 2.386.251 liras collected from our nation and was presented to the martyrs of Turkish Nation as a gift. There are eight relieves on each column of the Memorial. Four of them on the seafront represent the sea battles and the other four on the landfront represent the ground wars. The Memorial was restored in 2005, the new Martyrdom was constructed on the same place in 2007 and had its final shape. The region of the Memorial was occupied by the English on 25th April 1915 and was left to the French which landed on the peninsula on 27th April.